summary: They exist in whispers and lost memories; figments of déja vu who aren't effected by real-world physics. They are Shadewalkers. When Elena finally comes to terms with the reality of Vampires and other things that go bump in the night, a new threat emerges which tilts her world completely. Issuing the help of one such Shadewalker, she is thrust even deeper into the unknown.
disclaimer: don't own. don't sue. merci :)
warnings: dark sensual bloodfucked subject matter. AU. OC.
notes: i'm partially basing this on the television plotline while … mostly straying from it. this takes a BIG detour from the series into something completely unrelated and then back again. so i'm marking it "alternate universe" until the story returns to where it should be. bare with me, while Elena is still the main focus, everyone has a brief stint in the spotlight; including, but not exclusive to, my OC.
prologue
DreamCaster
*
She was split in two. Aware of herself yet not in control, paralyzed. The ambient blanched-greyness of this world made her nervous, like watching her first horror film – a constant undertone of suspense and dread and why the hell am I still watching this? A light mist clung to the air and dampened her skin; autumn, she surmised. Before she could focus on a landmark, a loud noise exploded, sharper, more condensed than thunder. Her attention snapped toward a scene that appeared to have been unfolding the whole time she was there: Two figures – broad shouldered and pale-white, one falling backward and the other partially wilted against a tree.
A flash was all it took and her entire being was devastated. There was a stillness, a silence so thick it seemed everything slowed down within it. The body went limp the instant its head hit the ground and, in the echo of its last breath, the world sped up and reality winded her. It felt worse than anything she'd experienced. The pain was all-consuming and she suddenly wished it were physical because that would have been easier to deal with. But this … unbalanced chaos that swept through her like frostbite was too much all at once. Her heart burned and broke and she was pulled apart and put together the wrong way.
Her skin didn't fit; shrunken and awkward and too tight.
"God no. No, no, no, please no!"
She choked on the lump in her throat, her mouth agape as she forced herself to make a sound. What escape instead was a bloodcurdling shriek, a loaded release of everything that spun and gripped and devoured her mind. The emotion was as numbing as it was torturous. Her vision blurred and her limbs became heavy; she didn't realize she was collapsing until she felt someone catching her. They fell together. She didn't want to be held, didn't want anyone around her to witness this implosion.
She also didn't care that they saw. All she wanted now was to cut herself open and bleed out the pain.
"I'm so sorry, I'm so so sorry…" The person holding her cradled her firmly, afraid to let her go. She was frantic and destructive and crumpled forward in a trembling heap. Screaming was all she manage, thoughtlessly trying to relieve the anguish that just wouldn't stop.
"No, no, no, no, NO!!"
And then, as quickly as the pain had come, it vanished.
*
inspiration: The Funeral – Band of Horses
